Seriously speaking, you are not lying my friend. I used to work at a recycling center back in the day. Prior to that I didn't even bother to recycle until I saw how much money people would make.
I cashed out this one dude $800.00 who had thrown a party at a ranch and came in, in a full size truck and hauling a trailer full of cans. People making $50 to $75 in just recycle stuff. Aluminum cans is where it's at though. Especially right now it's way over a dollar per pound.
Many people today are so called "hustlers" and want to make money effortless, but are too proud to collect cans. Fuck that shit, my kids come up every few months off that. That's how I pay them allowance. They get paid for their chores and their last chore is getting all the recycle stuff together to take to the recycle center.
I've always been a very humble dude and always kept the mind frame of, "That's how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor."
They key thing in cans is to smash them though. You get much more in the bag which means more money. A lot of people try filling cans with water, dirt or stick something in there to add weight, but after working at a recycle place them motherfuckers have a trained eye on how much a bag (no matter the size) is suppose to weigh. And if they're like me, they'ed tell you GTFOH!!!!
You'ed all be surprised how many walks of life go through those recycle centers. From bums to people who you can clearly see don't need the money.